Zhao Min had instructed the workshop fitters to produce two sets of each part. Having spares would make future maintenance easier, and that attention to detail made Chen Mo quietly satisfied. At least if something needed replacing, he wouldn't have to start from scratch.
All the components were soon delivered to his lab. After the staff left, Chen Mo had ten robots begin transporting parts to the assembly area. It was time to formally begin the build.
"Ink Girl," he called.
"Brother Mo, I'm here! What do you need?" her cheerful voice chimed through the speakers.
Her ability to converse had grown impressively. The AI was constantly learning and adapting—her intelligence now far more refined and dynamic than before. Exactly as Chen Mo had hoped.
"Help me write a paper on earthquake early warning," Chen Mo said. "Title it Research on Earthquake Early Warning. Include the working principles of existing seismographs and the theoretical basis behind their core mechanisms and construction techniques—but leave out the full schematics."
The three essentials before war are food, horses, and preparation—likewise, before unveiling equipment, a paper needed to be published to establish a theoretical foundation. No matter how advanced the tech, without a theoretical basis, it would lack credibility.
Chen Mo's seismograph leveraged various early-warning phenomena.
Earthquakes occur when underground rock formations shift or fracture along fault lines. While the Earth experiences minor quakes every day—thousands below magnitude 2—the vast majority are imperceptible.
Before a major earthquake, several measurable anomalies often occur:
Geomagnetic fluctuations caused by magnetostrictive effects due to underground stress.
Electromagnetic field changes, triggered by the compression or tension of underground rocks.
Surface geothermal anomalies, as heat accumulates through friction and stress along fault lines.
Unusual cloud formations, sometimes linked to geomagnetic or geothermal changes.
Chen Mo's seismograph design integrated these indicators, using precision sensors to monitor geomagnetic field shifts and geothermal flux. By analyzing these readings, it could calculate the timing of potential fault ruptures—providing early warning of earthquakes.
"Ink Girl," Chen Mo said after a while, "how's the paper?"
"It's complete! Would you like to review it before I submit?" she replied.
"Let me see it."
A document appeared on the desktop. Chen Mo read it carefully, line by line. Satisfied, he nodded.
"Submit it to Nature magazine," he said.
"Domestic or international edition?" Ink Girl asked.
"International. Domestic submissions take months; international's a little faster."
"Submission successful."
At the Nature magazine editorial office, editor-in-chief Campbell was reviewing submissions for the upcoming issue. As one of the world's top science weeklies, Nature received a flood of papers every week—most from institutions or top scholars. The selection process was rigorous.
An assistant editor walked in with a printed paper.
"Chief, here's a new submission—from China."
"China?" Campbell raised an eyebrow, his tone skeptical.
In his mind, Chinese submissions rarely amounted to much. "What's it about?" he asked, barely glancing at the title.
"Research on Earthquake Early Warning," the assistant replied.
Campbell snorted, snatching the paper. He skimmed it briefly before tossing it aside.
"More pseudoscientific nonsense," he muttered. "These Chinese authors always confuse imagination with actual science. No data, no credible model—just wild assumptions."
"Should I reject it?" the assistant asked.
"Reject it," Campbell said without hesitation.
When the rejection notice came, Chen Mo simply raised an eyebrow. That was fast—less than a day.
"Resubmit to both Nature China and Science China," he instructed.
"What if they reject it too?" Ink Girl asked.
"Then they reject it," Chen Mo laughed. "It's just a paper. Journals are only one way to share knowledge—they aren't the gatekeepers of truth."
Two days later, the rejections from Nature China and Science China arrived, as predicted.
Chen Mo stared at them, a bit speechless. The Ink Girl totally jinxed this.
Apparently, getting a paper published in top-tier journals without being a well-known expert was… tough.
"Well then," he said with a sigh, "publish it on the company website."
"At once," said Ink Girl.
Company Headquarters – Official Website Admin Office
Cheng Mingxin sat in front of his monitor, routinely checking the site's backend when a new article suddenly popped up on the dashboard.
A paper? Another one?
This wasn't unheard of. The big boss—Chen Mo—was known to publish articles directly without going through anyone. Past uploads like the carbon crystal materials, Chinese programming language architecture, and artificial intelligence white papers had all come from him personally.
Cheng clicked on the paper title: Research on Earthquake Early Warning.
The author? As expected—Chen Mo.
Cheng Mingxin didn't dare delay. He immediately printed a copy and hurried to the executive floor.
"Zhao Jie, the boss just published a new paper," Xiao Yu said, placing the printout on Zhao Min's desk.
"This guy…" Zhao Min muttered, flipping through the pages.
She had just returned from a business trip, only to find that Chen Mo was up to something new again.
"Xiao Yu, does your man ever take a break? Does he always lock himself in the room studying?"
"Only sometimes," Xiao Yu replied, laughing. "When he does start learning something, though, he goes all in. But I looked through this paper—it's a little… unconventional. Maybe he's just playing around this time?"
Zhao Min shook her head. "If he dares to publish it, it's not a joke."
Ever since the papers on carbon crystal materials, the Chinese programming language, and AI core theory, Zhao Min had learned not to underestimate Chen Mo. He never joked about science.
The lab upstairs might not have the flashiest equipment, but it was filled with the most bleeding-edge research—and the robots there were already helping with experiments.
To Zhao Min, Chen Mo was like a super hen, laying golden eggs disguised as research papers.
If Chen Mo knew she was comparing him to a chicken, he'd definitely file a complaint.
"Take the paper and ask him about it," Zhao Min instructed.
"Okay." Xiao Yu nodded, taking the printout and heading off to find him.